finally, Brand made it clear that if the Clipps can't make it this year he won't re-sign. even if they make the playoffs this year, imo, Sterling's not going to offer him the Max contract. therefore, the best thing they can do now is to find the best talants w/ cheap contracts they can trade Brand for. fortunately we have some proper trade baits: Mobley, Griffin, Thomas, draft picks compare to offer Brand the max, Sterling would love to save $30 million in the next 4 years if he can trade some good talants in return. the problem is the Clipps, who just drafted Wilcox and Ely, have no room for another 2 power forwards. K.T. has to go somewhere else. Seattle is playing Rashard out of position at 4 and K.T. is a good fit to solve their problem. Desmond Mason is having a break out year and that make Brent Barry expendable. and Clipp's Eric Piatkowski (shooting .503 & .400) could be a good replacement of Barry to come off the bench behind Mason. therefore, here's my proposal: Hou receive: Brand & Barry LAC receives: Mobley, Griffin, and a 1st rd. pick from Houston Sea receives: Kenny Thomas & Eric Piatkowski that give us a lineup of: Yao Ming, Cato E. Brand, Taylor T. Morris, Nachbar B. Barry, Hawkins Francis, Norris the Rockets' going to donminate for the next decade baby! and a few more notes: 1.) Steve'd love to see the team winning. he might love the Cat but who cares? we (yeah the fans) are not paying them big $ to just for them to have fun right? we deserve some quality ball game to watch. 2.) the silly cat gets to play with his favorite: Lamor Odom (still remamber he wants Odom over Yao Ming?) 3.) we'll be able to re-sign Brand if acquire him now. 4.) by the time Yao seeking for big contract we have Taylor, Cato, Rice, and Moochi's contracts off book. 5.) the trade works with salary rules. 6.) the trade is possible! Sterling isn't that smart like you might argue. now let's start the rumor of Brand to Houston!
Rudy has made this team and given us two championships and we should have had more.. Rudy is way underrated
I'd pick Brand over Eddie because of his proven consistency for double double averages. If you turn down a 20-10 nightly guy who passes, brings front court stability and knows the fundamentals, you better be keeping or getting someone equally worthy...and I don't mean Tyson Chandler worthy. Issues about salary cap and team loyalty notwithstanding...
I would trade Eddie for Brand also... Even though I like Eddie's game and his young talent... Brand has proven to show what he can do in the league. Brand shared to co-rookie with STEVE FRANCIS. So that should prove something.
i would trade brand for EG also. I mean, we arent even using EG. 9min last game.. Brand is a great player
shoot i would trade Cat and Kt, and EG for Brand. hes the no. 2 PF out there right now, he might get snbbed out the allstart game though....... come to think of it TIME TO VOTE
Let me play the devil's advocate, assuming this is even a feasible trade. Why the heck would the Clips want to even consider this trade? Let's face it, Brand is their ONLY consistent performer. Andre Miller is a premium player but his Cleveland days certainly show that he can't carry the team. Mobes is an undersized gunner (low percentage what's more) with little concept of team, high potential, low consistent production players like Eddie practically fill the Clips roster. The only reason I see is that Mobes and Ed won't and can't demand the max and that would be attractive to penny pincher Don. However, neither Mobes nor Ed will bring in the crowds either. So THAT can't be too attractive monetarily too. Ok. our standpoint then. Why would we want to clog up the lane with another space eating power forward who isn't too well schooled in the team concept? Especially now that our center is starting to really mature into the team. The Barkley / Hakeem experiment didn't work too well, if my memory serve me correctly. In my opinion, Brand is a numbers player. He gets nice stats but doesn't win. Check his track record. Doesn't matter if he has quality players or not. Assist numbers can be misleading too btw. Look at HOW he gets his assists. I like the team the way it is. Let it mature a bit and it'd be devastating.
Elton Brand is a borderline great player. We have many PF's but they're too inconsistent offensively and defensively. KT is ok, but he's too small to be a true PF. Brand would be a great low post alternative to Ming and he would be a great defnsive rebounder. If there's anyway for the Rockets to get Brand they should. Brand could take Mobley's shots and make a higher %. There's enough room for 3 scorers. Barry would of course be gravy. I think there is a 0% chance this could happen. If it did, it would be unbelievable.
Hard Rock, Didn't I already tell you to stop teasing people with these impossible one-sided trades? Good Imagination and research though, I bet you are a Business major....ex-Enron?
fungyee77, other than basketball, this is a business too. for those teams with bad reputation (Clippers, Bulls), a super star with expiring contract has less value than they actual worth. that's why the Bulls traded Brand for ONLY a draft pick (yeah it's #2 pick but still just a pick and it could be a bust.) the risk of lose the all star for nothing in return makes the trade possible. and of course the Rockets takes the risk too but that's the only way and I think it worth the risk. if Brand is a Rockets I'll tell you he's untouchable and he already got his extension in the summer. he's in the Clipps, however, and that makes him available. just ask yourself, why the hell a player like Brand couldn't get his contract extension done? there must be two questions in Sterling's mind right now: 1.) whether or not re-sign Brand. to re-sign Brand he must offer the Max contract, over $14 mil. a year. compare to Mobley+Griffin (around $7 mil./yr for 4 more years) he could save almost $30 millions in the next 4 years. I know he's rich but $30 millions is big $ for him too. 2.) even if he decided to re-sign Brand, will Brand willing to stay? I heard that Brand has made it clear if the Clipps can't make it this year he won't re-sign. plus, there are some teams w/ cap space next year would kill to have Brand in their roster: Spurs, Heats to name a few. the Rockets, in the other hand, has a good history and good reputation for big name free agents to consider about. especially if we acquire Brand right now and make some noise in the playoffs, I'll say 99% he's going to re-sign w/ the Rockets. and the Dream/Barkley situation isn't a good example. Brand isn't the type of Barkley's. if Barkley was as good a defender as Brand is and only concentrade on rebounding and defense we might have won a few more championships. Barkley was also too old by the time we acquired him. I'll respect if you say you like the team Rockets having or you don't believe the trade is any possible, but don't tell me you really think Brand isn't a good player and he'll hurt the Rockets. with Yao Ming on one side starting the offense, Barry waiting outside for open 3s, Francis slashing to the basket for the thunder jam, Brand on the other side box out... man, I feel sorry for the opponents. madmaxu, I love the Rockets so much and I hope them to win the title so bad. I just can't control myself and keep thinking this trade all the time. I really hope if we talk more about this it might become a rumor around the NBA; for any chance it might come true it's worth it.
yeah, 4 more years after this season. so are Cato and Moochi's contracts. fortunately all of them expired by the time Yao Ming seeking for big $.
yap, a llitle jealous? we paid him $6 millions last year too. do you know even we waved Matt Malony a few years ago we still paid him till his contract expired? yeah while him was playing for other teams.
I think Sterling would do this trade. Currently, Cat and EddieG are tied up at $7mill to $10mill until 2005-2006 while Elton is gonna look for the max ($14 million starting). But...that means we have to pay Elton the max also! And Barry makes $5million also. If Yao and Stevie were in their primes and we were making a championship run...then let's do it. But I don't see Elton resigning with us because I don't see us offering the max (damn Cato, Rice, and MoT). Well, that's my assessment of the trade. Here's your chance to rip mine Let's get some muscle -- Trade for Kurt Thomas!!
Hard Rock, You brought up some pretty valid points. In retrospect, perhaps I was too hung up on the Barkley experiment. Brand would probably help the team. I'll grant you that much. However, I believe sometime getting the RIGHT type of personnel fit is more important than getting a top player whose style does not fit your team. Ideally, the Rockets team I envisage is one which is able to fully utilise the passing prowess of our young center, a team where there is plenty of off the ball running and consequently, many easy opportunities. Brand is NOT such a player. He's a player that has to have the ball in his hands to be successful. Things HAVE to flow through him for him to make an impact. He cannot complement other players very well because he does not have the requisite skill set or mindset to play that role effectively. (OK at this juncture, to be perfectly objective, neither can Mobes or Eddie) And when things DO flow through him, you do not have a very good basketball team. This is where stats do not tell the full story. You look at his stats and are convinced he can contribute, but there will be subtle but telling changes to the way the team will play. And getting him will mean committing the team to a maximum contract AND a certain style of play for a great many years. Keeping Mobes and Eddie at least gives us the flexibility.
derrock, I think have two max players shouldn't be a problem for Alexander. especially when we have Yao Ming on the team. the Rockets said they make much more $ since drafted Yao Ming. Rice's contract expires after next season and by the time Yao Ming seeking big contract all of those fat contracts (Taylor, Cato, Moochie) would be expired too. Barry's cotract also expires after next season. by the time he'll be 33 and shouldn't cost us too much to re-sign him. if we can win it all after the trade it's worth the big $. fungyee77, I'm sorry but I still don't see why you think Brand isn't a team player who fits this team. the way you described him reminds me alot of Mobley. Brand only avg. 13 shots a game in a lottory team and made .492% of them. He does NOT "has to have the ball in his hands to be successful" like you said. if you watch the Clipps' game you'll see they don't have too many plays designed for Brand. many of his shots are from offensive rebounds. Yao Ming starting the offense on one side, Barry waiting outside for open 3s, Francis slashing to the basket for thounder jam, and Brand box out on the other side... what defender can survive? Brand is much stronger than Griffin can help Yao Ming to bang inside. he also avg. 3.42 blocks/game (#1 in the league), team up with Yao and have Barry play the passing lane (2 steals/game), we might be the best defensive team too. and don't worry about the contract issue. Alexander might be the happest owner right now because Yao Ming's commercial value. the new areana would help too. I just went to the game tonight and I saw how everyone is crazy about big Yao. now any trade that can help this team win the championship he'll do it.
I'm sorry, but this is the single-worst description of Brand's game that I've ever seen. The #1 complaint we Clipper fans have had about him this year is that he is TOO complementary, that he doesn't demand the ball and "take over". He scores so many points on put-backs it's not even funny. He's not going to single-handidly lead a team to wins, like Shaq or KG or even Francis, but he is probably the best secondary player in the entire NBA. The guy is a marvel of hard work and consistency, and while his game isn't very fancy, he gets the job done better than almost anyone in the league. The trade proposal is ludicrous. Sterling is a horrible owner, but he doesn't unload contracts via trade. If he did, why would he have ok'd the trades for Brand and Miller in the first place? He would have saved a lot of money sticking with Chandler and Miles.
